CPI-CPM merger not in near future: Suravaram

HYDERABAD:  There appears to be no possibility of CPI-CPM  merger in the near future. "It is not on our agenda," newly elected CPI general secretary Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy said on Wednesday.Though the CPI leader underscored the need for merger of the two parties for a synergy to propel mass movements, he does not see it happening in the near future.He said: "It does not happen just because the CPI desires it. Other parties should also reciprocate the gesture."  He pointed out that the time is not ripe for the merger and at present his party was looking at building mass movements by working jointly with other Communist parties.At the party's 21st national conference held recently at Patna, the four Communist parties which attended the sessions - CPM, CPIML, All-India Forward Block and Revolutionary Socialist Party - had agreed to lend support for taking up united agitations, Sudhakar Reddy said.Speaking at the meet-the-press programme organised by the AP Union of Working Journalists (APUWJ) here, he said  certain issues had to be sorted out for the merger and some of them are outdated in the present context. These issues had to be addressed first before any move is initiated for merger, Sudhakar Reddy said.He said the focus of his party was on building an alternative to the UPA and NDA which he did not call a third front. "The alternative that our party is talking about comprises parties which have policies aimed at helping the poor. Just because one party is against the Congress or the BJP does not mean that we would embrace them. The party which wants to join us should have a policy that would oppose measures that would help multi-national companies and corporate India loot the nation's resources, providing right to education and health to the poor, measures to combat unemployment, fight against corruption and efforts for ushering in a strong Lokpal bill," he said.Asked whether the CPI would have an alliance with the TDP in future elections, the CPI leader said his party would decide on the course only at the time of elections. "At the moment, we are not going to support or take support from the TDP in the byelections in the state. Our stands on state's bifurcation are divergent. We want bifurcation and the TDP has not spelt out its stand so far," he said.Asked how would the Communist parties fare in 2014 elections, he said he was not an astrologer and did not care about the outcome of elections. "Though elections and legislative houses are important instruments to fight against anti-people policies, we give more importance to the fight against the establishment outside the legislative houses. We may win or lose elections  and it depends on several factors. But we will continue to fight against any policy that hurts the interests of people at large," he said.